Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns……..

H

omes that celebrate Easter wouldn’t be doing it right if there weren’t Hot Cross Buns on the table on Good Friday. For a long time, I never knew that Hot Cross Buns were made for Easter. My only association with them was from nursery rhyme that goes “Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns……….”, another one of those things I learnt at school that I had no about!

In fact it was only a few years ago, when we had neighbours who celebrated Easter, that I discovered the Hot Cross Buns were eaten on Good Friday. We were living in Kerala then, and in typically as is done by Catholics in Kerala, the Easter celebration with Palm Sunday which is the Sunday before Easter. 
On Maundy Thursday , also known as “Pesaha Vyaazham” (Passover Thursday), an unleavened steam cooked bread made from rice called “Pesaha Appam/ Inri Appam” decorated with a palm leaf cross is served with “Pesaha Paa”l, a jaggery sweetened coconut milk.  This bread is cut and shared among the family members, and is eaten dipped in Pesaha Paal, in commemoration of the last supper.

Hot Cross Buns are made and eaten on Good Friday which is called “Dhukka Veliyaazhcha” meaning “Sad Friday”! I have seen these buns also made as slightly larger round loaves.

Now Hot Cross Buns supposedly have their origins way before Christianity and even Easter is supposed to have its origins in pre-Christian times. At the beginning of the spring, the Saxons used to mark the transition of winter to spring in a month long celebration during which they offered buns to their goddess of dawn and spring, Eostre. 
These buns were marked with cross supposed to represent the sun wheel or the 4 phases of the moon, depending on which story you would like to believe. It is believed that Easter comes from the name “Eostre”, and these buns were re-interpreted and adapted by the Christian Church during missionary efforts. 

Today Hot Cross Buns are small lightly sweet yeasted and spiced buns that are dotted with raisins with a cross marked on top with sugar icing or a flour paste and then sugar glazed. This cross signifies the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is also significant that the month long lean Lent period which precedes Easter is broken with this little bread that is made with butter, eggs, spices and raisins.

Not surprisingly, they were very popular in 19^th century England when street vendors used to sell them apparently singing “One a penny two a penny, hot cross buns…., butter them, sugar them and put them in your muns”, to make their wares more appealing to the buying public.

By the way, the word “muns” was slang for mouth. This probably gave rise to the popular nursery rhyme. Though Hot Cross Buns are associated with Easter, this wasn’t always so.

In the 16^th century England, the then ruling Protestant Monarchy saw these very popular buns as a threat because Catholics made them from dough kneaded for consecrated bread used at Mass or Holy Communion. So in 1592, Queen Elizabeth I issued a law allowing bakers to sell hot cross buns only during Easter, Christmas or at funerals and thus Hot Cross Buns came to be associated with Easter.

Other than having religious significance, there are a few folklore traditions attached to them. Hot Cross Buns were thought to have medicinal, even magical, value as a Hot Cross Bun baked on Good Friday would not become mouldy!
Sailors would carry Hot Cross Buns with them on sea voyages to guard against shipwrecks.
Some believed that hanging a Cross Bun in the kitchen guaranteed that bread made there would always rise. And if you shared sharing a Hot Cross Bun with someone, preferably while saying "Half for you and half for me, between us two shall goodwill be", it meant you would be good friends forever!

Whatever the origin, or the stories that come with these buns, there’s no denying that a batch of these baking in your oven will envelop you, your kitchen and possibly your home in a fragrant aroma of baking bread and warm spices. Nothing quite like that to put you in a good mood, when you know you’ll soon be having one (or two maybe?) split and slathered with butter along with a cup of coffee or tea. And take my word; you don’t need to wait for Good Friday/ Easter to make these.

Here’s my recipe for Hot Cross Buns. It’s not an authentic one, not that I know there’s such a recipe, but I can guarantee it is a good one! I substituted a little whole wheat flour because I like the dimension it adds in taste, but feel free to use all white flour.
I didn’t have dark coloured raisins so I used golden ones. I must say the dark coloured variety are more pleasing to the eye and look better if you have to photograph your Buns. If you reallly like raisins, you can add an extra half cup to the dough.
I used chai masala along with some cinnamon and nutmeg, but feel free to use a spice mix that you prefer or have on hand. You will need to use a little more spice than you would normally think necessary to get the full flavour in these buns.

Some people make the buns and use icing to mark the crosses on the buns, but I have gone the traditional way of using a flour paste to make the crosses and then brushed a sugar glaze on the cooled buns.

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients:

For The Buns:

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 cyps all-purpose flour

3 1/2 tsp dry active yeast

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp chai masala

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 cup raisins

40gm butter

1 1/3 cup (approx. 320ml, maybe a little more) milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

For The Flour Paste:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

4-5 tbsp water

For The Sugar Glaze:

1/3 cup water

2 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Whisk together the flours, yeast, sugar, spices, sugar, salt and raisins in a large bowl or in the food processor, till combined.

Place the butter in a small saucepan, and just melt it over medium heat. Now add the milk, heat till lukewarm. Add warm milk mixture and lightly beaten eggs to the flour mixture, and pulse (or mix with a fork) till the dough just comes together. Pulse the dough further (or use your hands to knead the dough), till a soft and smooth, almost sticky dough is obtained. Add a couple of tsp of milk if necessary to obtain a dough of desired consistency.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Set  aside for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.

Press dough down to its original size and knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, and shape each  into a ball. Place the dough balls on a lightly greased or lined baking tray with parchment paper, about 1cm apart. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes, or until buns are almost double in size.

In the meantime, mix together the flour, sugar and water to a thick paste. Fill the paste into a plastic piping bag and seal the top. Cut the tip of the bag, and pipe crosses on each risen dough ball.

Bake the “crossed” buns at 190C (375F) for about 20 to 25 minutes till they’re done and golden brown. Cool them on racks.

Once the Hot Cross Buns are slightly warm, make the glaze. Put the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let the sugar solution boil, over low heat for 5 minutes till it thickens a bit. Brush this sugar syrup over the top of each bun, and let it dry.

This recipe makes 12 Hot Cross Buns. Serve them slightly warm. Split them and eat them with butter and a little jam (if want your Cross Buns sweeter!) for breakfast, at tea-time or whenever you feel like it!

These Buns are best eaten the same day. They can be refrigerated for a day and warmed before serving.